Social networking sites have become a popular tool to express and share opinions online. Members of social networking sites, such as “Facebook,” provided by Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, Calif., “Twitter,” provided by Twitter, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., “MySpace,” provided by Specific Media LLC, Beverly Hills, Calif., “Google+,” provided by Google Inc., Mountain View, Calif., and Linkedln, provided by Linkedln Co., Mountain View, Calif., can exchange opinions with other users within their network, such as “friends,” “followers,” “connections,” and so forth. Further, mobile device technologies expedite the popularity of such social networking sites, as software written for mobile devices, called “apps,” enables the users to remotely engage in online opinion sharing.
As an online interpersonal communications tool, each social networking site allows the members to comment and vote on topics or items of interest. The comments and votes can be kept private or shared with other members within a social networking community, which are formed based on friendship, interest or cause, and so forth. However, membership in the communities is limited and outsiders at-large, including users who do not have an account with the social networking site, are excluded. For instance, a community to discuss a particular motor vehicle may be formed within a social networking site and the members of that social networking site may comment or vote on the motor vehicle. However, other members of the social networking site who are not a member of the community and outside non-members are precluded from participating, even if they know of the community's existence.
Further, an opinion sharing community for discussing a particular motor vehicle does not have much universality as an open community due to its limited topics and targeted audience. For instance, such a community targets a specific group of people, such as a person who saw the particular motor vehicle on the street, parking lot, somewhere in the neighborhood, and so forth, and provides no easy way to inform such a group of people that they can share opinions regarding the particular motor vehicle. Further, such a community has limited applicability. Thus, a community that only covers narrow topics and which is targeted to a small group of people cannot function as an open opinion sharing community.
Services facilitating personal interactions using social networking sites are known. For instance, putting a message on a display installed in the rear window of a motor vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2012/0098652. A user of the display, typically a driver, may send or receive a message from a designated Web site or other social networking site to a display equipped on the rear portion of a motor vehicle. In addition, the user can further share the message exhibited on the display to multiple email addresses and Web sites with others. However, the message display service is limited for sharing messages with members within an existing community of the display user.
Further, a social networking service for facilitating in-person interactions, such as electronic dating or social networking, via mobile devices is proposed in U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2011/0035445. The service is provided to identify other users in the proximity by tracking specific information indicia of the users and to display those users in the proximity and their profiles on the mobile device. Users may contact other users through the service platform. However, the users of the service need to be previously registered as a member, and further, the service is performed only to the users in the proximity of each other.
In addition, a communication tool to send SMS-based texts between a motor vehicle owner and others has been proposed as “CurbTXT,” a texting service for motor vehicle owners. By registering with CurbTXT, a motor vehicle owner can receive a text message from anyone else who sent the text message via CurbTXT using a license plate number of a motor vehicle. CurbTXT enables communication between unknown people while keeping the identities of both parties private. For instance, when a third party sees a CurbTXT participant's motor vehicle being towed, the third party may send a text to the motor vehicle owner through the CurbTXT that his motor vehicle is being towed. However, to receive CurbTXT text messages, the motor vehicle owner needs to be initially registered with CurbTXT. Further, the communication on CurbTXT is limited in mobile phone users who can receive SMS-based texts from others. In addition, no feedback communication from the motor vehicle owners to others are possible.
Further, sometimes an individual notes a particular vehicle that he or she would like to discuss while driving. Under such circumstances, the individual may not always be able to write down the license plate of the vehicle of interest, and by the time the individual stops driving, the identifying information about the vehicle of interest fades in the individual's memory and the individual may not be able to identify the vehicle, or worse, misidentifies the vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need to facilitate online opinion sharing about a particular motor vehicle between motor vehicle drivers and others anywhere and anytime. There is a further need to enable an individual to capture identifying information about a particular vehicle while the individual is driving.